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Painting to present the gospel

Painting to present the gospel

Painting to present the gospel

Painting to present the gospel

By Julie BatesSpecial to The Courier-Tribune

Jeremy Sams’ painting speak volumes. Although the artist has become well known for his landscapes, portraits and murals, it is perhaps through his painting ministry that he reveals the depths of his heart.

Sams uses his gift to share the gospel, showing through the media of painting how Christ’s blood covers all sin.

“What God created me to do is to paint,” he said. “So if I can use painting as a medium to proclaim the gospel, that’s a win-win situation. That is the gift that he gave me, so that is my way of giving back.”

Sams started doing this when working with a youth group at a former church. He wanted to find a fresh way to hold their attention and get the message across.

He developed a painting that went from creation and the fall of man to how man is redeemed back to God. It went through the basic gospel message. He found a way to work it through painting.

Before long, it morphed from a 20-minute painting and speaking session until it became up to an hour long with not as much painting and more speaking. Soon, he was working on coming up with more ideas.

One presentation features a painting of Christ’s face. It starts with a white canvas and he speaks about God and his attributes — that he is holy and righteous. He is the God of love but he is also the God of justice who demands righteousness.

The canvas is white, unblemished and level. One of basic meanings of righteousness is to be lawful and level, straight.

He talks about what God demands of man, then goes through the Ten Commandments as the moral law, asking the audience things such as, “Have you ever told a lie?” Then he writes it on the canvas.

Sams explains that if you have ever taken something that doesn’t belong to you, then you are a thief. He writes thief on the canvas. By the end of the session, the canvas is ruined by all these words: Thief, liar, murderer, adulterer, blasphemer, among others.

He asks the audience, “How do we find reconciliation?” Then he talks about the cross and how Christ bridged the gap between God and man as the perfect sacrifice. He wore death unto resurrection.

As Sams paints, his wife Crystal sings songs that reflect what he is talking about. As her voice fills the air, he paints over the sins with the face of Jesus. Symbolically, Christ’s blood covers them.

The presentations have been done in a variety of places. He has done them on the street, in youth groups, for Bible school, all kinds of places. But mostly, they have been done in churches. Sams notes, “Wherever anyone calls me, I will go.”

What he hopes people get from the experience is a clear presentation of the gospel. He wants them to consider their motives.

“A lot of people come to Christ looking for a miracle,” he said. “They want food, something to satisfy their own desires. They want to use Christ to get that desire.

“He is not a means to an end. He is the end. Christ is who we should desire. He is our bread of life. He satisfies us in all our walks of life. That’s the way that painting goes.

“I hope the main message is that they get a clear presentation of the gospel and they examine their own hearts. Why they are claiming to be believers if they are believers at all.”

Sams sees the ultimate goal is just to glorify God. Secondary to that is the joy it produces.

In all his work, he tries to praise God in one form or another.

“Whenever I look out at landscapes, the whole purpose is for me to go and look at something outside and to have an emotional response to it. I want to see somebody bigger than me,” he said. “That is the whole reason we go to art galleries. We don’t go to art galleries to see someone who is of lesser quality. We go to galleries because we want to see a masterpiece. I want to be awed by what this person did.

“Same thing when we go on vacation or go sightseeing. You are looking at something to get that emotional response of awe and majesty. This is something bigger than me. This is all God’s. How can I reflect it? How can I capture what God has done?

“That’s the daily pursuit, the constant struggle of, ‘Did I do it justice?’ And you never can, but you always think tomorrow, I’ll get it. The next painting will be my best painting. It’s that constant pursuit and struggle of giving him the glory that he is due in creation. I’ll never get there. I understand that, but that doesn’t prevent me from trying.”